Keystone XL Pipeline: House GOP To Continue Push Ahead Despite Obama Move

BALTIMORE -- House Republicans say a fresh push for a 1,700-mile Canada-to-Texas pipeline could be part of a new round of negotiations over extending the payroll tax cut and benefits for the long-term unemployed.

House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton tells reporters the House leadership is looking at every option after President Barack Obama decided this week to block the $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline, at least temporarily. The Michigan Republican and other House GOP lawmakers argue that the decision was politically driven and will deny the nation both jobs and a new energy source.

Upton and the lawmakers spoke at the GOP's annual retreat in Baltimore.

A two-month extension of the Social Security tax cut and benefits expires Feb. 29, and negotiators hope to produce a new plan.

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Comments

[weRallgreen]

11:59 AM on 01/23/2012

The point that few talk about is that the GOP push on the pipeline is NOT about jobs, it's about anti-Obama propaganda. If any of those temporary pipeline workers ask for assistance when those jobs peter out, the GOP will dump them into the 'lazy unemployed' box. They lie about the number of jobs, they lie about 'energy independence', they lie about keeping prices down. People are sucked in by a fantasy of cheap gasoline, without realizing that high oil prices are what incentivize going after marginal and dirtier fossil fuel supplies. They KNOW that it takes months, or years to plot out an alternative pipeline path that has less impact on water and environment, so pushing for an immediate decision is like taking your loved one home before the surgeon finishes an operation then calling the surgeon an idiot.

[weRallgreen]

11:48 AM on 01/23/2012

They would attach the pipeline mess to an appropriation for toiet paper if it would get them more aritime on FOX to bash Obama. If they were really focused on jobs then maybe they'd have a point, but their buddies nationwide have put 10's of thousands of government workers out of work, and have spent most of thier so called 'work' time wallowing in their own self importance. How does jobs jobs jobs' turn into 'sharia law, national motto, abortion rights, redefining rape, voters rights, union busting, attacking teachers, demonizing immigrants, and spending half your time in front of cameras at Fox, lying about what you just did?

[sursum korda]

06:04 PM on 01/21/2012

The "oil" is mined/owned by US companies who lease land from Alberta and pay a royalty, thence to be transported by a pipeline that is 75% American. TransCanada has 24.7%, Northern Border States,Tuscarora and Great Lakes Gas Distibuting own the rest and it is being done that way because the US devised, controls and enforces the international distribution grid to her benefit. Canadians in the East (where 85% of us live) gets oil from Nigeria, Venezuela and the Middle East being considered as just a small appendage of the US market. These decisions are made in Houston folks, not Edmonton, not Washington nor Ottawa. Ain't that neat, US fiscal imperialism is able to enforce system on a country that has the 2nd largest deposits of oil in the world, dependent on foreign oil and make us look like the bad guys to boot. Ah!.... the BS baffles brains syndrome is alive, well and practiced to a "T" by it's most artful practioners....American ubercapaitalists

[grappler1987]

04:52 PM on 01/21/2012

How dependent are we on foreign oil? 49%
http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/images/charts/imports_domestic_petro_shares_demand-large.gif

"In 2010 the United States imported 11.8 million barrels per day (MMbd) of crude oil and refined petroleum products. We also exported 2.3 MMbd of crude oil and petroleum products during 2010, so our net imports (imports minus exports) equaled 9.4 MMbd."

How does the pipeline help? Let's be more dependent on N. America and less dependent on OPEC.

[weRallgreen]

11:53 AM on 01/23/2012

Your statements are misleading. You start out saying how much we import, but that doesn't mean all of those imports come from OPEC. In fact, an increasing share of those imports ARE from the North American continent...and you can't discount the states below our border. The pipeline doesn't guarantee we become less dependent on OPEC AT ALL! All it will do is ship dirty tar sands to refineries that will pollute the air and water to process. Then it will be up to those oil companies to decide to put the oil on ships to sell elsewhere or leave here. Why do people buy the advertised propaganda from the oil companies that they are our friends?

[grappler1987]

04:45 PM on 02/09/2012

Funny, our refining capacity is limited. It creates a zero sum game. More Canadian imports means less imports from others including OPEC and Russia. Unless we build more refining capacity, that is how the math works. Very simple.

[grappler1987]

04:50 PM on 01/21/2012

"As if that oil would stay in the US anyway and help us with our balance of payments."

The vast majority does stay in the US. No, it won't help with BOP but it will reduce our dependence on Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.

[VA Jill]

12:01 PM on 01/21/2012

It would be interesting to know how much stock some of these people have in Keystone and related industries, and how much they're being bribed by lobbyists. You just KNOW they aren't pushing it for the good of the nation!

[1differentdrummer]

04:54 AM on 01/21/2012

Who does Upton work for exactly? It sure isn't the people of Michigan.

[tartentart]

08:20 AM on 01/21/2012

Believe me when I say Fred Upton comes from the part of Michigan that has it's head up it's ass!And then there's the district in Michigan that has a former minister elected to congress. Believe when I say it's embarrassing and difficult to live in and around this area, my only saving grace is that I work in a more liberal area than I live in. And sometimes even that isn't enough!

[Jim Pasterczyk]

04:24 AM on 01/21/2012

As if that oil would stay in the US anyway and help us with our balance of payments.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/12/30/134516/us-exports-record-amount-of-refined.html?storylink=MI_emailed

[unionbrother]

03:55 AM on 01/21/2012

Two reasons that this pipeline shpuldn't go through.....1) the oil that goes through the this pipeline will go on the world market, and not to this country, and 2) when they say that jobs are going to be created, it will only be a few hundred temp jobs, for the building of the pipe line, after that it drops to a few hundred .......all the while, they are risking this countrys enviroment to creat profits for the oil companys and raking in profits beyond their wildest dreams!!!! and who will eventually have to pay for this...Middleclass!!!

[1differentdrummer]

04:55 AM on 01/21/2012

The most corrosive petroleum product around.

[ticoune]

08:55 AM on 01/21/2012

What you say is true but watch to see what fox news will do with the truth.fox would estimate a lost of jobs of at least 500.000.

[sobaytransplant]

02:54 AM on 01/21/2012

Hey, everyone.. this is a story from the New York Times about the group that American48 is posting links to. He/she is attempting to deliberately misinform people here about the pipeline.

"Campaign lore is replete with tales of mysterious "push polls" designed to spread negative and often distorted messages about a candidate. But a new round of calls in Nebraska has turned the concept on its head, greeting residents with a barrage of feel-good arguments about a $7 billion oil pipeline that has met unexpected resistance in the state."

"The pro-pipeline calls were sponsored by Nebraskans for Jobs and Energy Independence (NJEI), a nonprofit registered with the secretary of state's office by Ron Kaminski, the business manager of a LIUNA chapter that serves Nebraska as well as parts of Iowa. Kaminski did not respond to a request for an interview on NJEI's jobs-heavy messaging in support of Keystone XL."

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/10/21/21greenwire-labor-uses-automated-calls-to-tout-controversi-58386.html

[malinda78]

02:52 AM on 01/21/2012

If all they want is a pipeline to get the oil to a convenient port why don't run it acriss Canada to an ocean. It's got to be closer to Canada than Texas and if it breaks it won't destroy environment. If Canada wants to destroy their environment they can but don't ask us to do it so some oil company can make a profit.

[john klak]

12:24 PM on 01/21/2012

The problem is that they will, and then it's a lot shorter distance to ship it to CHINA?

[Bodine666]

06:37 PM on 01/21/2012

Shipped to China sounds outstanding to me.

[Jolly Johnson]

01:52 AM on 01/21/2012

Again this whole unfortunate situation is the fault of the Republican's extremism, as they are consumed in a frenzy of partisan politics. The pipeline route needed to be revised because of it’s threat to water aquifers, that had already been decided. Instead of allowing the the pipeline company to map a new route with State Department review, the Congressional Republicans attached a measure to a tax cut bill to force Obama to approve the pipeline by a February deadline without time for the review process. Naturally it would be dumb to approve a new unmapped pipeline without the State Department review process which is required by law. The pipeline company can reapply and the process will take place with the new route and the required State Department review. This pipeline will not change the price we pay for oil because those prices are determined on the world market. The real reason the oil companies want this pipeline to the Gulf is because that is where the refineries are and refinery products can easily be exported worldwide from the Gulf ports. The project will create 2500 to 4650 temporary pipeline jobs for two years during the construction of the pipeline according to data from TransCanada, the pipeline company. The claim the pipeline creating 20,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs is unsubstantiated. For the report by Cornell University search: "Pipe dreams? Jobs Gained, Jobs Lost by the Construction of Keystone XL."

[modrnknght]

04:01 AM on 01/21/2012

"Again this whole unfortunat­e situation is the fault of the Republican­'s extremism, as they are consumed in a frenzy of partisan politics."

It's a lot more than that, Jolly, The partisan politics is just a bonus. The real reason is the Repubs who have been pushing this hard have gotten $42 milion (so far) from the fossil fuel industry to get it passed before the public can really take a look at it.

[American48]

11:52 PM on 01/20/2012

American 48 - Everyone look at this site. It might give you a different prospective on this issue.

http://www.jobsandenergy.org/checkthefacts.html

[Jolly Johnson]

02:17 AM on 01/21/2012

The decision to revise the route of the Keystone XL pipeline in order to protect the Ogallala Acquifer had already been made. There is no need to get into some kind of Republican forced deadline to get the pipeline approved by February. The whole idea of a Republican February deadline was extremist politics. The pipeline does not need approval before the fall of 2012 in order to be completed by the original 2014 target date. Let us trust that as more and more U.S. citizens realize the extremist nature of TEA/GOP politics they will use the ballot box to relieve them of power.

[sobaytransplant]

02:32 AM on 01/21/2012

How about THESE facts that contradict your link?

http://www.tarsandsaction.org/spread-the-word/key-facts-keystone-xl/

By the way, I researched your link a little. Turns out the NY Times mentioned the group at that site in an article, saying, "Campaign lore is replete with tales of mysterious "push polls" designed to spread negative and often distorted messages about a candidate. But a new round of calls in Nebraska has turned the concept on its head, greeting residents with a barrage of feel-good arguments about a $7 billion oil pipeline that has met unexpected resistance in the state..." and further down the article it says, "The pro-pipeline calls were sponsored by Nebraskans for Jobs and Energy Independence (NJEI), a nonprofit registered with the secretary of state's office by Ron Kaminski, the business manager of a LIUNA chapter that serves Nebraska as well as parts of Iowa. Kaminski did not respond to a request for an interview on NJEI's jobs-heavy messaging in support of Keystone XL."

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/10/21/21greenwire-labor-uses-automated-calls-to-tout-controversi-58386.html

[caborose]

11:45 PM on 01/20/2012

We need to spend more money on renewable energy. We need to cut our use of an ancient fuel source and cut our dependency on foreign dirty fuels. For goodness sake, we are in the year 2012, there are clean energies our there!

[pmoschetta]

03:32 AM on 01/21/2012

Our #1 exporter in 2011, was in fact, OIL, cabrose

[caborose]

06:59 PM on 01/21/2012

We import the crude for our refineries and export the finished product!

[john klak]

12:54 PM on 01/21/2012

SO GO AHEAD AND DO IT!!!! What is stopping YOU?

[The ORF in Largo]

11:40 PM on 01/20/2012

Canada didn't want to spoil their enviorment so they conned the Greedy One Percent to take the
risk for a few dollars.

[sobaytransplant]

02:39 AM on 01/21/2012

That's pretty much it in a nutshell... yeah.

[pmoschetta]

03:33 AM on 01/21/2012

The Greedy One Percent and the Koch Brothers